The best thing about the iPad’s snappy, speedy, futuristic hardware is how it pretty much disappears once you start using it. The black bezel doesn’t just give you a place to grip your iPad without engaging the 9.7-inch touchscreen--it makes the apps jump right out at you. The screen is large enough that the apps become immersive, filling your field of view and almost making you forget you’re holding the iPad in the first place.

E-reading is one of the cornerstones of the iPad,
and iBooks
handles that pressure with style. This beautifully designed app is a
pleasure
to use on almost every level, and it quickly earned a starring role in
our dock.

Motion 4 isn’t a standalone product--it ships with latest version of
Final Cut Studio. Yes, this video effects program might be a mere
“component” of a larger software suite, but because it competes with
standalone applications, we decided to distinguish it with its own
review. And we went all “deep focus” on it, because Motion 4 has come a
long way since the days when Apple was selling it as solo software.

When the YUBZ Talk Mobile handset arrived at the Mac|Life
offices, half the staff said words to the effect of “Why would anyone
ever use that!?” and the other half fell into the “That is so rad!”
camp. If you harbor a certain aesthetic sensibility (and an abiding
belief that Bluetooth headsets make everyone look like robots--but not
in a cool way) then the Talk Mobile is for you. It’s a handset for your
cell phone that’s modeled after an old landline telephone receiver. It
comes in nine colors, and, to our delight, even sports the iconic
coiled cable.

A triumph of game design, Braid mixes 2D platforming gameplay,
ingeniously crafted puzzles, time manipulation, and a melancholy story
open to multiple interpretations, beautifully packaged in stunning
hand-painted artwork. It’s not an incredibly long game, it doesn’t have
a multiplayer mode or online play, but what’s here is more than enough
to suck you in, keep you engrossed, and make you really use your brain.

We’re divided on The Sims 3. We partly see the dollhouse-style people
simulator as a fun way to vicariously experience parts of life that are
far removed from our everyday monotony--and monogamy. On this level,
The Sims excels. You can become a master thief, buy a mansion, or wreck
marriages without any real-world consequences.